Israeli forces arrest Hamas-linked lawmaker in southern West Bank

Israeli forces have arrested a legislator with the Gaza-based Islamic resistance movement, Hamas, along with nearly a dozen other Palestinians during separate operations across the occupied West Bank.

On Monday morning, a large number of Israeli troopers raided the home of 60-year-old Azzam Nuaman Salhab in the city of al-Khalil (Hebron), situated 30 kilometers south of Jerusalem al-Quds, and arrested him.

Israeli forces have detained Salhab on multiple occasions in the past. The Palestinian lawmaker was last released from the Israeli custody in July 2015.

He has been held each time under Israel’s policy of administrative detention, which is a sort of imprisonment without trial or charge that allows Israel to incarcerate Palestinians for up to six months. The jail term is extendable to an infinite number of times.

Some prisoners have been held in administrative detention for up to 11 years without any charges brought against them.

Palestinian detainees have continuously resorted to open-ended hunger strikes to express their outrage at the detentions.

Also early on Monday, Israeli forces broke into several homes in al-Khalil, making a number of arrests. Anas Hatim Qafisha — the son of Hamas-affiliated lawmaker Hatim Qafisha — was among those arrested.

Israeli forces restrain a Palestinian man as troops try to arrest him in the flashpoint occupied West Bank city of al-Khalil (Hebron) on September 20, 2016. (Photo by AFP)

Elsewhere in Jalazun refugee camp and the central West Bank town of Qatanna, three Palestinians were arrested when Israeli forces raided a number of houses and ransacked them.

Additionally, Israeli forces stormed several houses in the central West Bank city of Bethlehem and Jalazun refugee camp, located seven kilometers north of Ramallah, and arrested four Palestinians.

The occupied Palestinian territories have been the scene of heightened tensions since August 2015, when Israel imposed restrictions on the entry of Palestinian worshipers into the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in East Jerusalem al-Quds.

Palestinians say the Tel Aviv regime seeks to change the status quo of the sacred site.

More than 260 Palestinians have lost their lives at the hands of Israeli forces during the tensions since the beginning of last October.